Bleicher Gallery La Brea presents a discussion and reception for “SoftMachine:UT”, curated by Mike Saijo. Artists will have a brief talk about their work in the exhibit and their take on how it relates to our current socio-political climate.

Saijo’s ambitious project is a series of painted hexagon shapes formed to look like DNA compounds. These shapes will be painted on by diverse members of the community, making a constantly evolving exhibition. Taking cue from the William Burroughs’ innovative cut-up/fold-in novel, the canvases create a gallery-wide DNA structure and together, tell a new kind of mythology about our social dynamics.

The exhibit is the first of a three-part series of exhibits curated and created by Mike Saijo. Inspired by William Burroughs’ 1964 sci-fi novel Soft Machine, this exhibit explores the novel’s concept of undifferentiated tissue (UT), a tissue which causes the protagonist to metamorphose and change identities throughout the course of its story. Much like the UT, today’s scientific practices continue to change our own DNA and, in turn, constantly restructure the DNA of our society as a whole.